The present invention relates to computer and data security, particularly to an apparatus and method for erasing data contained upon magnetic data storage media.
Computer and data security are important concerns for individuals, businesses and governments. Particularly, secure techniques for erasing or otherwise disposing of electronically stored data are growing concerns. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0252628, which is commonly assigned to Ensconce Data Technology, Inc. and is incorporated herein by reference, describes the developing importance of secure data destruction for individuals, businesses and governments. Legislation has also pushed the importance of data security to the forefront. To comply with federal regulations, companies now need to completely and reliably eliminate all sensitive data on hard disk drives prior to disposing of or reusing the drive. Specifically provisions of the Financial Services Modernization Act (2003)(Gramm-Leach-Bliley), the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003 (FACT Act), the Corporate and Criminal Fraud Accountability Act of 2002 (Sarbanes-Oxley), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) all contain data security requirements. The regulations under these acts set requirements for securely handling sensitive data.
In response to the increasing need for computer and data security, techniques for erasing or destroying electronically stored data have been developed. One such development is data eraser software, which is intended to make deleted files unrecoverable as well as eliminate the extraneous data that is created and stored by many applications, especially those involving the Internet. Such software is run on the computer containing the hard drive that stores the information to be deleted. The software causes an over-write of certain data on the hard drive. However, the computer's BIOS and/or components of the hard drive itself may interfere with the software, preventing complete erasure of data on the hard drive. For example, the BIOS of the computer and/or hard drive components may prevent data on certain areas of the hard drive from being erased. Therefore, the data is not securely erased or destroyed and can often be recovered by known forensic data recovery techniques.
Accordingly, what is needed is an apparatus and method for erasing data contained on a storage medium, such as a hard drive, such that it is unrecoverable by known forensic data recovery techniques.